Last night I asked God what He wanted me to write about next and I heard one word, “Daffodils”.  I immediately looked up the meaning and symbolism of Daffodils and discovered that they symbolize rebirth and new beginnings and are associated with Lent, so they are also called “Lent Lily”.

After reading those things, I looked out the window and saw the snow that is covering our ground right now.  Our weather here in NE PA has been varied lately.  One day a couple of weeks ago was very spring-like and the very next day it snowed a great deal.  This last week we had 2 days of spring and then snow again.  It almost feels like a tug of war between Spring and Winter.

Isn’t life like that a lot?  So often we are awaiting breakthrough in one area, and all we see is a back and forth between moving forward and then suffering setbacks.  I know we’ve felt like that a lot.  We have even said, “I feel like every time we take a step forward, we have to take a step back again.”

Then I was reminded of a word God gave me last year.  I was looking out at a snow covered yard then too, and He said, “Do you see it?  Spring is beginning to happen under the ground.”  In that moment I saw the ground look like a beating heart.  I could feel that spring was stirring even though all I could see with my eyes looked like Winter.

Friend, I don’t know what season you are in, but I do know this……Spring is coming.  I don’t know what life looks like for you right now, but this is not forever.  Spring WILL come.  Seasons always change.  As long as the world spins round and round, this will remain.

Press into Abba this morning.  Let your fingers reach down deep into the dirt of your garden and feel for the heartbeat of Spring.  Look for buds of the promise to begin pushing their way through the dirt.  Now is not the time to transplant yourself to another garden.  No, you wouldn’t transplant a flower just as it’s roots are stretching down deep into the soil.  Just before it begins to burst through the dirt and show its beauty.  Now is the time to dig deep.  You were made for this moment.  You were made to grow.  To dig deep and see what your made of and what you were created to be.  Let full bloom come into your life.  You can do this! You were made for this season.  Will you embrace it?  I hear the Father pleading with you not to move mid-bloom.  He longs for you to be fully developed.  He is working.  If you ask, He will give you a glimpse of it.  You need only ask.

The grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.  Isaiah 40:8

“All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25

Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor.  He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy He knew would be His afterwards; and now He sits in the place of honor by the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2

All of this talk about love languages has reminded me of this, I once valued another love language far more than the one I do now.  My primary language used to be quality time, now it is acts of service.  When God made me aware of this, I asked Him why it had changed and He showed me this…..

For a long season I spent most of my time alone with God.  We spent very large amounts of quality time together.  This was a filling season.  It was also a time when He was healing me so much.  I had a lot of broken places, and I needed a certain kind of tender loving care.  Now that so much of that healing has occurred and I have invested so much time and energy into knowing Him and letting Him know me, there came a day when He told me it was time for me to go out of our secret place and share with the world.  He told me to take what I’ve learned about Him and myself and let the world see Him through that lens.  It was a scary time for me, but He made it so clear. Just as an adult eagle begins to rip apart the nest when it’s time for the eaglets to fly out into the world and build their own nests.

He told me before He would fill me anymore, I would have to pour myself out on others.  He told me that what He had given me, was meant to be shared. So, in order to receive more from Him, I began to pour out into others.  Now, all week long I pour out, but never forsake the secret place.

My relationship with God has changed as well and we’ve gone from Him carrying me through life, to Him wanting to partner with me in life.  Isn’t it amazing how He’s done that?!

He changed the primary way I receive love because He wanted to move into a new phase of my life and growth with Him!  He always wants me to be fulfilled in love, so He transformed me internally because He knew our next phase of life together would require something different.  He is such an attentive and loving Father.  He is a God Who loves relationship.

I know we’ve been talking a lot about love languages, but today I encourage you to examine your current love language.  Has it changed from what it once was?  Is God beginning to transform it into another one?  Stay present with God.  Let Him be in the day to day with you.  He is just as much the God of today as He is the God of yesterday and tomorrow.  He never changes, but we do.  He is always relevant.  He is always nearer than our breath.  Will you take time to breathe Him in today?  Let Him speak love to you.  Your Lover awaits.

For the Lord says, “Because he loves Me, I will rescue him; I will make him great because he trusts in my name.  When he calls on me, I will answer; I will be with him in trouble and rescue him and honor him.  I will satisfy him with a full life and give him My salvation.  Psalm 91:14-16

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.  Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.  Luke 5:15-16

Over the last few days, I kept feeling compelled to ask my husband if he would marry me again.  I have frequently gone to him and said, “Will you marry me?”  Each time, I felt so compelled straight from my heart to ask him this.  I even told him I had no idea why I kept needing to ask him that question, but still I asked.  It wasn’t until tonight while spending some alone time with God that He spoke to me about what I’m feeling.

I asked God, “Why do I keep needing to ask Chris to marry me again?”  He replied, “When you first married Chris, you gave him all the love you had to give at the time, but now you have recently received a greater understanding of My love for you and its opened your heart up to give more love than you have ever been able to before.” I love that my first response to an increased awareness and supply of love led me straight to my soulmate.  It led me immediately to an unexplainable and unquenchable need to share that with my mate.

How amazing is that?!

As our family has talked about love languages and I’ve shared about them with the High Schoolers that I speak with, I’ve become more aware of what makes me feel loved and I can see more clearly how God is speaking love to me right now.  I have felt so full. I believe that is part of what has awakened these sleeping places within my heart.  I am so grateful.

For many years, I have been aware that I still carry numb places inside my heart.  I have prayed over them repeatedly and asked God to breathe life into them.  What I see now is, I actually just needed my heart softened.  I was unable to fully absorb what God was pouring over me because I had dry places inside.  Oddly enough, these places have been softened through the process of writing this devotional series.  Isn’t it so amazing the way God uses our acts of obedience to begin softening us like clay and molding us into His likeness more and more.

Today I challenge you to go to the Father and ask Him if you have any hard places in your heart.  Even if you’ve asked before, ask again.  If you are already aware of the hardness, then go to Him and ask for His rain on those dry places.  Give Him full access again.  It’s worth it if it leads us to a deeper love.  There is no greater fullness than to live fully submersed in His love.  Those are the moments where He releases purpose and fulfillment over my life.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth- for your love is more delightful than wine.  Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! Take me away with you- let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.  Song of Songs 1:2-4a

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and will all your strength.  Mark 12:30

For many years while walking as a believer both in church and in daily life, I’ve been curious when I see people serving in places where God has told me He didn’t call them.  Now, at first, I assumed He only pointed it out to me so I would always come to Him before I committed to anything.  Not wanting to walk outside of His anointing, I have at times spent a lot of time pressing into His heart to make sure I only serve where He’s called and anointed me to serve.  Otherwise, it’s a big waste of time and robs from my family because inevitably they are the ones that would suffer the most. Lately though, I’ve been increasingly aware of this again.  So, first I examined my own life and asked God if I needed to step out of anything in which I’m currently involved.  He didn’t say to lay anything down, but still He was highlighting some ideas about this subject so I knew He was trying to tell me something, and then I came across this today….

I read someone describing the dangers of being too busy.  They talked about when they first came to the Lord and signed up to do too many things “for Him” and were neglecting time “with Him” because of it.  Then she said something that struck my spirit. She said, she was frustrated in all those things because they were works of the flesh.  She explained that “works of the flesh” are things we do without God’s power flowing through us.  What an eye-opening thought.  I too, believe that is true.

All my life, I thought works of the flesh were just sinful things we struggle with, you know, bad things.  I had never considered they are “good things” done outside of His presence and our anointing.  But now that I heard it described this way, I know it’s true.

I think we all need to be very aware of where God is calling us to serve.  Just because there is a need, it doesn’t mean we are the one to fill it.  Now, I am aware that this may grate against some of you.  I’m not trying to make anyone angry however, I am just trying to provoke you to assess your life and ask God if you are serving where He has called you to serve or are you serving just to feel better about yourself?  Or are you serving so you look good to others?  I’m pretty sure most of us have been guilty of this from time to time.

Please don’t misinterpret this devo.  Please do not use this as an excuse to stay further disconnected from your church body or His calling for your life.  He will call you, but if you’re already too busy with other things, will you listen?  I want to be certain that I am only ministering in the capacity He has called me.

God, forgive me for any time I have walked outside of Your calling and anointing in my life. Lord, I want to be “all in” wherever You call me.  Help me say “no” when I need to, so that when my “yes” comes I will be available.  Lord, help me to stay flexible and ready.  Steep me in Your love.  Steep me in Your anointing.  I am willingly giving myself to You. I adore You, in Jesus name, Amen.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Galatians 5:19-21

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  Romans 13:14

Yesterday I had this thought, “Let me be so distracted away from the enemy that his arrows have no affect on me.”  The idea of that thought struck my spirit.  I then saw a toy plastic bow and arrow and imagined an arrow shooting at me from it and chuckled because the arrow didn’t even make it all the way to me.  Then I understood, I should be aware that the enemy is around, but I am to be so focused on God and what He’s doing that I don’t fear the enemy’s arrows.  If I do that, then his arrows will have zero affect on me.

Next, I saw myself drenched in water and I heard, “Be so wet with the Holy Spirit that even fiery darts are put out when they come near you.”  If I stay soaked in Holy Spirit, then no weapon formed against me shall prosper.

WOW! Yes Lord! Let it be so.

Have you ever been around people who are so afraid to move forward in the Lord, or even life, because they are convinced the enemy is lying in wait to attack them as soon as they do?  When I hear people talk this way it makes me so sad because it shows they have let their view of the enemy exceed their view of God.  In other words, they are so focused on being attacked, it crowds out what they can see.  They are not focused in the right direction.  We’ve probably all been guilty of this at one time or another, but we don’t have to be any more.  What if we became so convinced that God is good, and He will protect us, that we don’t fear the enemy’s schemes or plans ever again?

The truth is, God has already won.  We are, in essence, running a victory lap called life.  We are able to walk in victory.  Let that soak in.  Jesus died on the cross before one of us was born.  The victory has already been won.  The end is set.  The enemy has already lost.  That’s why he’s always throwing such a fit.  But I ask you, what is the best thing to do when a toddler is throwing a temper tantrum?  Ignore it.  When my babies would throw a tantrum, I would simply walk away.  It was never long before they picked themselves up off the floor and came back to me calmly.  Why not do this with the enemy of our soul?  He comes in kicking and screaming, and so often we become consumed with what is going on.  We quickly lose focus on the Father and suddenly life is in complete turmoil.  But what might happen if we take that control away from him again?  Resist the enemy and he will flee. That’s a fact.

We no longer have to be tossed around by the waves of this world.  Remember our Lighthouse?  If we stay focused on Him no matter what, it won’t be long until life becomes much more peaceful.  But if we continue to look for the enemy to throw kinks into our plans, then he will be happy to oblige.

Resist the enemy and he will flee.

Resist the enemy and he will flee.

The next time you feel arrows pointed your direction, begin to immediately focus on God and His goodness.  That will throw water on those fiery darts.  Begin to praise God no matter what your circumstances look like.  That will cause those arrows to lose momentum.  Worship God in all things and praise His name.  The enemy will flee.

He has the whole world in His hands.  What do we have to fear?

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me.”  declares the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.  Ephesians 6:16

Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

I recently had an experience with the perfect love of God, and I wanted to share it in hopes that you too would recognize when He’s holding you with that same love.

Our family has had a lot of discussions about love languages lately, and through that thought process I have discovered that acts of service is my number one.  But it’s not acts of service in the common thought.  I enjoy working in partnership with people.  I feel most loved when people invest in partnering with me in work, or dreams, and many other things.  I didn’t fully realize it before, but I feel most alive and fulfilled when this occurs.  All of this leads me to the following story…..

I was preparing to lead worship, and after I sent out the list of songs our pianist contacted me saying she thought I should play piano for third song because it was so intimate and then I should go ahead and play for the final song as well.  This moved me for a few different reasons.  First, if you’ve ever been a musician, then you know how rare it is for anyone to step aside and let someone else take there “spot” even for a moment.  This friend is not that way however, she sacrificially worships on our team and is never distant from humility.  Second, she is an accomplished pianist and I am not, so it was as if she was saying, “I believe in you! I know you can do this.”  Right away my spirit bore witness that it would be best for me to play, but immediately after, I began to feel insecurities about how others would perceive this.  I became insecure about meeting other’s expectations, all the while, I knew she was right and I should play, so I agreed.  At practice the transition between her playing and me making my way to the piano mid-set and switching places worked really well.  Suddenly, I felt really excited and full inside.  I felt loved!  It wasn’t until later that I realized what had happened….actually, it was what God had orchestrated.  He reminded me how I had been feeling insecure, but in the moment when we practiced and worked together as a group to make this transition all that fear melted away and I literally forgot about it.

Why is that?  Well, it was because working in partnership is my primary love language.  And there you have it!  God perfectly loving me in my specific language led me to walk out of fear and into His Presence without consciously knowing it.  How amazing is that?  How awesome is our Father?!

That was the first time God has brought to my attention the workings of His perfect love.  I have long wondered how I would attain to walk in His perfect love, now I see it’s something already at work in my life, I just wasn’t aware.  I knew I kept growing in boldness and didn’t yet understand that it was because I was walking further into His perfect love.

I am bold in worship because I know He loves me.  Still, hangnails of fear will show themselves from time to time and I never knew why.  Now I know.  The only reason I experienced His perfect love this last week, was because I decided to do something new and push past a haze of fear.  What I found on the other side was….the Father’s love.

Have you experienced even a glimpse of His perfect love?  Is fear standing like a fog before you and making you second guess everything?  I encourage you to take one step forward and watch the fog disappear as the Glory of God is revealed to you in new ways.  We can’t experience something new from God if we are never willing to do anything different.  It doesn’t have to be a big change.  It only needs to be a forward motion.  Will you step out today? Who knows, you just may find yourself walking into His perfect love!

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:18

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

As I ran yesterday, I saw my wings unfold upon my back again, but this time I saw something else.  Right down my spine there was a strand of gold wrapped around me and that same gold was wrapped around my wings.  God spoke to me about His strength in my weakness, and that I walk in strength because He is wrapped around my spine.  He sturdies my backbone, so to speak.  In life recently, I have had to stand firm in ways I never have before.  I have had to stand up in the face of injustice.  This is not something I’m usually able to do for myself. It’s much easier for me to champion someone else.

God told me He was ready to strengthen a new part of me.  So, I will let Him.

I was hesitant to share this message because if it’s misconstrued by someone who is forceful by nature it could be an unhealthy weapon, but if it’s taken in humility, it will strengthen the one who acts in gentleness.  It could breathe wind into the wings of the one who is by nature soft spoken and restrained.  My prayer is, God would so cover this message that it would speak to each in exactly the way it’s needed.

God is the strength inside of me and I hear Him calling me to begin to stand firm in ways that are new and uncomfortable, but as with all His instructions for my boldness, I am to be cloaked in gentleness every step of the way.  Only in God’s kingdom could gentleness make me a force to be reckoned with.

Forever, the idea of standing firm felt like a forwardly aggressive posture, but what I’m realizing is, those with the greatest measure of strength are the ones who stand with an inward resolve.  Not stubbornness, but an inward steadiness of knowing Who God is and who He says they are.  I strive to be that person.  Step by step, I am taking ground in this area.  Step by step, my fierceness in worship comes through, wrapped in a gentleness that I feel taking me over while I sing and press forward in the spirit.  Many times in worship, I have felt gentleness thrust itself out of me like a sword.  I have felt it cut through resistance in the room and soften hearts that might not otherwise have been softened.  I have heard the tone of my voice change and my words become drenched in the love of the Father, not from anything I’ve done, but because of His anointing on me and my willingness to surrender.

I stand firm.  Not because I have decided that I have anything worthwhile to offer, but because I know that He has so much worthwhile to speak through me.  I am a surrendered vessel.  I know I keep stating that point, but it’s too important not to repeat.  I am surrendered.  Every day I make a new decision to surrender.  It’s not a once in a lifetime thing to do, no, it’s a conscious decision day to day.

Have you surrendered today?  Have you given Him tomorrow?  Have you awakened to the gentleness of the Father inside of you?  Are you discovering the beauty of gentle kindness?  Have you seen the power of love?

O Lord, open our eyes to see how Your kingdom advances on the earth.  Give us the keys and wisdom to release Your Presence into our day to day lives, for the glory of God.  Lord, here I am once again.  I surrender.  My arms remain raised toward Heaven.  I wait for You alone.  Oh, Lover of my soul, You are just and true and I adore You.  Give each person reading this devotional a glimpse of Your face today.  Let them begin to feel the power of Your gentleness.  Encourage our hearts.  Release Your kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven today.  I love You.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord.  Philippians 4:1

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  Ephesians 6:11

Tonight, I was waiting at a local pizza place for my order to get ready. I had ordered and paid online an hour previous and requested a 7PM pickup.  We arrived at the restaurant at 7:10PM, so I figured our order would be sitting on the counter ready to go.  Nevertheless, when I arrived, the workers looked flustered and my order was not ready.  I was told it would be a few minutes, so I went and sat down. As I sat I wondered how long it would be before my husband came in to check on me because I had left my phone in the truck with him. We had company coming over at 7:30. Still, I sat, and I started to feel frustrated.  I started talking to God and asking Him to help me stay kind and patient. Two things I wasn’t really feeling at that moment.  And then suddenly I saw myself, I saw my feet and they were dripping with honey, and God said, “It’s important for you to keep learning to not let your outward circumstances affect your inner spirit.”

I know the above story may seem trivial, but isn’t it often those trivial instances where we really blow it and as a result sabotage any opportunity to witness to anyone around us at the time?  How can we be trusted to be faithful with the big stuff, if we can’t even hold onto peace and kindness at a pizza place? Seriously, it really wasn’t that big a deal in the scheme of things.  They were busy, and it may have thrown them that I requested a specific pickup time, although that’s always an option when you order online.  There are a million factors that could have caused the delay.  It really wasn’t worth my bad attitude and scowl.

Our circumstances are never an excuse to act poorly.  Jesus, Himself was the best example of this.  In the face of all kinds of evil and mistreatment and betrayal He never wavered.  He was always kind.

This brings me back to the thought, we must learn how to not let our outward circumstances control who we are and how we behave.  I have Christ in me, so I always want to look to Him before I respond to anything.  What a privilege it is for those that believe!  We get to carry Christ within us.  That gives us such an advantage in our daily lives.  We always have a Counselor inside.  The only question is, are you listening to Him?  Do you let the whirlwind that is life carry you away, or do you remain rooted in Love?

I challenge you today to take a hard look at the way you may be perceived by those who have contact with you in your day to day life.  Would they have any idea that you carry Christ inside of you?  Evaluate your behavior and be brutally honest with yourself.  Are you kind at the grocery store?  Are you encouraging to your family and those that you work with?  Are you always speaking pessimistically or are you uplifting?  It’s never too late to change the momentum of your day to day life.  It does, however, take intentionality.  I set out to be kind to the people I cross paths with throughout the day, and I know for a fact that it makes a difference.  It’s also opened doors for me to begin to share some of my walk with Jesus with people who otherwise would never hear about Him.  And you know what?  It simply feels good to be nice to others.  It lifts my spirits to see that I have caused someone to smile.

Love is the goal.  I’m certainly not perfect in this, but love is my constant goal.

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you:  God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:5-9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.  1 Peter 2:9

When I was in junior high school, my parents decided to put me into a Christian school.  In an attempt to make friends, I joined the basketball team.  Up to that point I had danced ballet and tap, taken gymnastics and played piano, but I had never played a team sport before.  The first practice was so exciting for me!  It wasn’t a strict practice that day, rather it was a huge group and everyone got a chance to show their skill levels while the coaches began to decide who would be on each team.  The exhilaration I felt running up and down the court with friends guarding and shooting, etc. was overwhelming.  When the coach had me sit so the next group could go out, I was still on cloud nine.  An older girl came and sat next to me and asked what I thought about playing.  I excitedly said how I loved it and couldn’t wait to go back onto the court again.  She said, “Oh, you should go tell the coach you want to go back out again, they really love when you do that.”  I said, “Really?”  This was all new to me and I was extremely trusting and naïve.  She again encouraged me to go speak up, so I quietly walked over and stood next to one of the coaches and said I’d really like to go play again.  Well, I think you know how this ended.  He yelled at me and scolded me for having the audacity to ask him that question and said he was the coach and would make that decision, not me.  I was completely humiliated.  As I walked back to my seat, I saw the girl who had encouraged me to speak to him laughing at me.  Then I knew, she had done it on purpose.  Not only did I feel totally betrayed by this person, I couldn’t figure out why she would’ve done that, and I barely got to play again the rest of the season.  That was the full extent of my basketball career.   It’s amazing how telling such an old story can still make my heart feel pain and betrayal, but it does.  While thinking about this story last night, in preparation to write, I had to again pray forgiveness over that person and over my own foolishness.  I was young and naïve and really didn’t do anything wrong, but I’ve had to deal with shame over the incident.

Fortunately, I’ve learned that God can use any situation for His good in your life.  What I gleaned from that situation was to never self-promote.  I know that if I put myself in a position then it’s up to me to maintain that, but if I wait and let God move things in His timing, He will maintain everything for me.  In my life right now, there are a few places where I am waiting for God to move me forward.  Sometimes, God shows me places where He wants me to move into more leadership, but I am never to take that information and begin to promote myself.  Instead it’s an opportunity to let Him mature me in the waiting.

When you look at your life right now, how would you evaluate your willingness to let God’s timing move your life forward?  Do you moan and groan in the waiting, or do you use it as an opportunity to deepen your walk with Him?  Do you have trouble pushing forward when God says hold back?  Are you living in such a way that God can trust you with knowing His plan in advance, or are you needing to learn the art of self-control?  That fruit of the Spirit that many overlook or under value.  In the world we live in now, self-control is more necessary than ever.

I encourage you today to take a moment and get quiet.  Ask the Lord if you are walking in self control and allowing Him to move your life forward in His timing.  Let His holy conviction wash over your heart and bring to surface any pride that may need to be removed.  He loves you too much to let hidden pride sabotage your life.  I’m so glad every time He shines a light on prideful places in my heart.  It may sting for a moment, but the relief of removing that thorn far outweighs the pain.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  James 1:4

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

Over the last few days, God has been bringing to my mind several different people and situations where I once worked through forgiveness but am needing to re-visit, so I can go to a deeper level of forgiveness.  This is a daunting thought.  I looked at these people and situations, and still even after walking through so much forgiveness I feel splinters in my heart.  After all this time, I still feel splinters…..It’s hard to believe.  But here’s where the Hope lies, God wants me to be totally free!  He knows where pain and unforgiveness have found a hiding place in my heart and He’s ready to uncover a little more, so I can become more free than I was yesterday.  The worst thing I could do in this moment is to hold back and pridefully proclaim that I’ve already done all the forgiving that needs to be done.  If God is bringing it back to surface, then that’s clearly not the case.

Sometimes, I think we decide that when an offense or hurt happened during our childhood, we have no right to still be hurting as adults.  I have found nothing to be further from the truth.  What wasn’t dealt with in childhood, must be dealt with at some point no matter how much time has passed.  People often say how resilient children are, but what I’ve noticed is they are just able to adapt.  It’s not that the wounds don’t matter to them, rather they learn how to become survivors, and instead of walking into healing and freedom they adjust and walk with a limp.  Unfortunately, that’s not walking in true freedom.

Freedom seems to be a recurring theme in our time together.  Freedom is so important.  I’ve felt the lack of it, and I know the fullness of it and believe me whatever you need to walk through to get to the other side is worth it.

God never intended me to live my life shackled down by the past.  He created me to fly!  He never intended me to walk through life with PTSD, He created me to partner with His healing!  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM!

Are you walking in freedom today?  Look around the garden of your heart and let God highlight any weeds of offense or hurt that need to be plucked out.  He longs to fully restore your heart.  When He paid the ultimate price on the cross, He bought all of you.  Not a portion.  ALL of you. He longs for you to walk out onto the waters of healing and find Him there waiting.

Are you ready?

Even if you’ve already walked out some healing during our time together, I encourage you to check back in with God and your heart to see if more needs to occur.  There is no shame in needing healing.  It would be a shame to avoid it though.  Let God tenderly comb over your heart again, and see what happens.

God, I am coming to You, once again, and asking You to highlight any wounds or unforgiveness that is blocking up my heart.  Lord, I want to walk into the fullness of freedom.  Guide me through this process.  I am fully surrendered to Your hand.  Work within me wherever is necessary.  I am Yours.  In Jesus name, Amen.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  Matthew 6:14

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven times?  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  Matthew 18:21-22